Psychology 358: Schools

Comprehensive high school

(1920s) An educational institution that promised to meet the needs of a diverse and growing population of young people. Classes in general education like citizenship, college preparation, and vocational education were all housed under one roof. There was also a huge change in high school curriculum. New courses added in music, art, health, other subjects.

No Child Left Behind Act

(2002, George W. Bush) Required that schools create and enforce academic standards by annually testing all students and reporting the students' performance to the public. underperforming schools would be given an opportunity to do a better job the following year, by providing additional instruction or services for students who needed them. But schools that continued to fail would eventually have funding taken away and might have to close.

5 qualities of good schools

1. emphasize intellectual activities 2. committed teachers who are given autonomy to decide lesson plans 3. well integrated into the community 4. good classrooms--> students participate actively and think critically 5. well qualified teachers

Violence in schools

1/4 Students has been a victim of violence. Teachers are also victims of violence.

Zero tolerance

A tough approach to violence in schools that responds seriously to infractions. Many schools have referred aggressive students to law enforcement and many have police officers.

Parental support and involvement

Associated with better adolescent adjustment during school transitions. Also effects teachers' expectations for their chid's achievement, protecting low income students.

Big-fish-little pond effect

Being a big fish in a little pond is helpful for admission to college (lower proportion of other high achieving students). A downside to being placed with students of high academic ability is that when students compare themselves to their high-achieving classmates, they don't feel as competent as they would if their point of comparison were students who were not so smart.

Research on effects of tracking

Both negative and positive effects on student achievement.

Advantages of tracking

Class lessons can be finely tuned, allows students to learn more specialized subjects.

What are good stage-environment fits?

Enhance social connectedness by school climate and by strong emphasis on positive social interactions. Encouraging: engagement, agency, "mattering" to self and to others "Fitting in and standing out": Crosnoe AND, these social factors have educational consequences in secondary school and beyond, especially for high risk youth.

Lethal school violence

Extremely rare but highly publicized.

Students at the extremes

Gifted students have IQ over 130. Students with a learning disability have difficulty with academic tasks that cannot be traced to an emotional problem. Most disabilities are neurological. Some types are dyslexia, dysgraphia (handwriting), and dyscalculaia (arithmetic)

Learning over the summer

HIgher SES students more likely to have academic progress during the summer (parents encourage them to continue learning)

School climate

How teachers interact with students, use class time, and the expectations they hold for students all influence learning and academic achievement. Students achieve more when attending schools that are responsive and demanding, where teachers are supportive but in control. Similar to the authoritative family environment.

Mainstreaming

Integration of all students with special needs into regular classrooms. Can meet specific needs of students and it's cost effective. However, segregation can lead to isolation and stigmatization for either being "stupid" or for being a "brainiac"

Social capital

Interpersonal resources that give richer students advantages over poorer ones. Tighter links between schools, homes, and communities brings advantages like safety and discipline.

Student engagement

Levels in the US are low! Disengagement is linked with misbehavior and substance use.Different forms of engagement feed on each other (emotional, cognitive, and behavioral)

Schools within schools

Many large schools are divided into schools within schools. Advantages: leads to a more positive social environment. Negative: schools may vary considerable in their educational quality.

Transition into middle school

Many studies find that students' academic motivation and grades drop as they enter middle school. Scores on standardized tests don't drop though, suggesting the drop may be more of a reflection of changes in grading practices and motivation than in students' knowledge. Schools can combat these changes by understanding the stage-environment fit.

Why does performance drop in middle school?

May be because teachers and classmates are less supportive, relationships with peers become more importance and they seek more independence, rules are more scrutinized, and adolescents disengage as a result.

How does the classroom environment differ in the typical middle school from the typical elementary school?

Middle school is less personal, the teachers hold different beliefs about their students (less likely to trust students and more likely to emphasize discipline) --> this creates a mismatch between what students desire (independence) and what the teachers provide (control). Teachers are also more likely to believe that their students' abilities are fixed and not easily modified through instruction. Also, less likely to confident about their teaching ability.

Social promotion

Moving students from one grade to the next regardless of their academic performance. Many argued that poor and ethnic minority youth were being cheated out of a good education and graduated without skills to succeed in college or labor force.

Overcrowding

Nearly 15% US schools are overcrowded. Schools with more than 50% ethnic minority students are especially likely to be overcrowded. achievement is lower because of stress and inadequate resources.

Alternatives to public schools

Not as beneficial. For example, it's likely that private school test scores are higher because of the characteristics of their students. In addition, homeschool students with weak religious ties are 3 times as likely to be behind their expected grade level.

Variations of class size

Once adolescence is reached, classroom size does not affect student scholastic achievement as long as size is typical (20-40). Small classes benefit young kids but adolescents benefit just as much in classes with 40 students as in those with 20.

ADHD

Persistent and impairing symptoms of inattention, impulsivity, and/or hyperactivity. ADHD declines with age as adolescents and adults develop impulse control and mature. ADHD individuals more likely to have problems in school, abuse drugs, have depression, etc.

Growth of college enrollment

Rose dramatically between 1950 and 1970. Today, more than 2/3 of high school grads enroll right after graduation. Before more males enrolled, now more females.

Desegregation following Brown v Board (1954)

School districts designed measured to make schools more diverse. However, the Supreme Court said in 2007 that school districts could not use race as a factor in deciding how to assign students to schools (***not widely accepted today)

Tracking

Separating students into different levels of classes within the same school (ability grouping) Not all high schools track students. In some schools, students with different abilities take all their classes together.

School Reform: What should schools teach?

Should education focus on traditional academics or on preparing young people for adulthood. 1980s: Back to Basics movement resulted from American students faring poorly in international comparisons. Late 1980s: Movement toward increasing amount of critical, high-order thinking in schools. Late 1990s: Movement toward Standards-Based reform, combination of more high-order thinking and better performance on standardized tests.

Size of schools

Smaller is better! Student performance and interest is higher when schools are more intimate.Small schools have wider range of activities and students are more likely to get involved. (ideal size: 600-900)

Problems with NCLB

States may not have resources to conduct assessments or respond to low performance. Schools may be discouraged from focusing on assignments that focus on improving other important capacities like persistence and self-control. Also, subjects don't appear on tests such as current events and critical thinking. Pushes low achieving kids out of school. No common set of standards: gaming the system. Report school wide averages without revealing huge gaps between low and high performing students. Encouraging poor performing students to be absent on testing days.

The effects of school on adolescent development

Staying in school effects future earnings and cognitive development. Unclear if/how schools impact psychosocial development. Experiences vary based on track, peer groups, and extracurriculars. Higher IQ when the # years schooling increases. Still, schooling have more of an affect on achievement scores than on performance on tests of cognitive skills like memory .

Disadvantages of tracking

Students in the lower tracks receive worse education. Students tend to socialize only with peers of the same academic group, which can create subcultures that are hostil toward one another. Often discriminates against poor and ethnic minority students and may hinder their academic progress. Increases preexisting academic differences among students.

Self fulfilling prophecies

Teachers expectations are often reflective of their students' ability,. Their expectations can have a long-term impact on student achievement and lower the performance of students who perceive them as less capable than they actually are. Poor kids are particularly vulnerable to the effects of teacher expectations.

History of high school

Today, all young people aged 14-17 enrolled in school whereas in 1930 1/2 the age group were students, and at the turn of the 20th century, only 1 in 10 were. Rise of high school was the result of industrialization (greater need for skilled labor/ advent of child labor legislation) , urbanization and immigration (overcrowding, slums, crime--> compulsory secondary education was a means of social control)

Critics of zero tolerance

Violence more effectively reduced through educational programs. Many students may get arrest records, which would disproportionately affect Black students, who are more likely than others others to report rules as unfair and to be suspended and expelled even though they aren't more likely to commit these acts.

Racial differences in teaching

White teachers rate misbehavior of black students more harshly than do their black teachers. (therefore, there are differences in punishment) There's also evidence that minority students are held to lower standards.